


A Body in the Streets

by beeya



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Death, Gen, Homelessness, M/M, Violence, also avoid if a child on the streets with questionable morals isnt your thing probably, definitely avoid if talk about death and how everyone dies isnt your thing, for a bit, half canon half me making stuff up since we dont know a ton about erin and orions past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 18:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17065241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeya/pseuds/beeya
Summary: i did edit this a bit so it shouldnt be Too big of a mess but i make no promises. i dont like how a lot of it came out but i dont feel like messing with it anymore so here it is.i first wrote the last part with orion at like 6 am before sleeping and i cried so much.. i love to suffer





	A Body in the Streets

Erin has never been bothered by death.

 

It’s not that he liked death, or that he wanted death-- it had just been necessary for him to not get hung up by it from a young age. Death was normal, familiar. It always had been.

 

Even before Erin’s parents died when he was seven, death was routine to him. They had been dirt poor and living on the streets, and as Orion’s father and grandfather were in power at the time, the streets were _bad._

 

Back then, walking through the poor areas of the city meant being forced to turn a blind eye to the occasional corpse, whether it was someone that had just collapsed from hunger or someone that had been taken out for their belongings. Living on those streets meant Erin saw the bodies daily from the time he was an infant-- he had never had any reason to question why there were so many dead. To Erin, it was normal.

 

When his parents were killed in front of him by a man desperate for their meager belongings, Erin was only mildly fazed.

 

It had been their time to join the other bodies on the street; Erin was sad, and he missed them, and it meant he had to start taking care of himself more, but surprised? Far from it. In the back of his mind, he knew it was going to end up like this one day. And one day, he’d be another body in the streets too. That’s just how it is.

 

In order to survive, Erin had to steal from others. He learned to hide in the shadows and dart around quickly, aided by his small size, and how to grab pouches of money without being noticed. He learned to cover his bright red hair, since it’s easy to spot and an uncommon enough color to get him recognized, and to use his innocent appearance to make people believe any lie.

 

Almost a year after his parents death, a man approaches Erin after seeing him in the streets several times. The man offers him a decent sum of money in exchange for killing a certain man, and even provides a decently sharp knife for the job. Apparently he’s desperate enough to ask a child, but Erin isn’t bothered by it.

 

He accepts without hesitation (he has no reason not to), kills the man without issue, and even gets to keep the knife.

 

At the age of eight, he starts his career as a full-time assassin and never looks back. Finally, he can afford a small apartment to get off the streets, decent food, and he even has enough to buy better tools for his jobs on occasion.

 

He finds out he prefers kunai as his weapon of choice, and over the years his reputation as an assassin grows. Erin’s skills grow too as he hones his senses and gains experience.

 

He never necessarily enjoyed killing his targets, but he never regretted or felt bothered by it either.

 

Over time he starts to interact with other assassins in the area. For the most part, they consider each other friendly rivals in the business. There are a few he gets closer to than the others, a few he considers friends, but the life of an assassin isn’t an easy one. They all end up dead too, eventually. Erin isn’t surprised.

 

He misses them for a few days after they pass, silently hoping they’re resting easy, and moves on. It was unfortunate, but Erin knows everyone will end up as another body in the streets, even himself, and he isn’t bothered by it. That’s the way the world works.

 

* * *

 

Even if Erin considers death normal, he has never felt the same about people suffering, especially now that he’s a bit older and understands that it doesn’t have to be that way. Unless his target his truly vile, he _never_ prolongs his kills-- they’re quick and easy, and often they don’t even know it’s happening.

 

So when the civil war in Lama begins to get worse, and he sees more and more people alive but exhausted, alive but in agony from years and years of fighting, Erin decides he can’t sit back and watch it anymore. He researches the royal palace, finds out as much information about the layout and the guard postings as he can, and plans.

 

He knows all three living members of the royal family will have to go, and decides the prince would be the easiest to go for first.

 

He sneaks in at the dead of night, guards pathetically unaware of his presence, and finds himself seconds from slicing Prince Orion’s throat.

 

Somehow, rather than ending his life, he ends up voluntarily following the prince.

 

It’s strange to Erin, who grew up in such drastically different circumstances, to stand welcome in the royal palace, next to the prince who will soon become king.

 

After nearly ten years as an assassin on the streets, suddenly everything is different. His main job is now protecting Orion, rather than being sent to kill. And, after Orion asks his opinion a few times as someone who grew up there, it becomes standard for him to help decide how to change conditions on the streets for the better.

 

He no longer sees death daily-- in fact, he often only sees it maybe once month. Still, even over half a year after Erin left behind his old life, he does not forget or change his view even for a second about the truth of life, and he knows with unshakable confidence that it will always be this way.

 

Everyone will end up as another body in the streets, even him, and that will never bother him.

 

* * *

 

Erin doesn’t know exactly when he stopped breathing, but based on the burning of his lungs it has to have been too long since his they last moved.

 

He knows this, and he knows he needs to _breathe,_ but he’s afraid that if he does that, his body will stop crying enough for the tears to stop blurring his vision.

 

And Erin desperately, _desperately_ wants to see anything but what’s in front of him right now, as if not seeing it means it isn’t real. He could close his eyes, but it seems impossible. His entire body is frozen, aside from his trembling hands hovering outstretched in front of him and the harsh thudding of his heart he can feel in his chest.

 

Suddenly, the burning of his lungs is too much and his body inhales sharply, whether he wants it to or not. The movement combined with the severely needed oxygen seems to reset his mind, and Erin finds himself rushing forward and throwing a kunai immediately as he chokes down a sob.

 

He internally berates himself for his previous way of thinking; now was the absolute _worst_ time to get overwhelmed and distracted. He needed to be up and moving, not standing still as the culprit got away and as--

 

Even with his body fully in panic mode, Erin manages to easily hit the man in a lethal spot, allowing him to focus on the real issue at hand.

 

The man had stabbed Orion, and based on the location combined with the way Orion reacted, his face paling almost immediately as he stumbled forward before landing on his knees, it was bad. That’s what got Erin panicking, initially.

 

Based on the fact that in the time it took Erin to snap out of it, kill the man, and turn back around, Orion had grown even paler and switched to lying on the ground with a growing pool of blood around his lower left abdomen, it was _really_ bad. The fact that the culprit removed the knife when he ran away certainly wasn’t helping.

 

Erin’s tears hadn’t stopped, but he ignores them in favor of rushing to his king’s side, ripping off his jacket, and doing what he can to stop the bleeding by shoving it against the wound.

 

He can tell Orion is looking at his face, but he makes it a point not to look at the eyes he knows are growing foggy even as he chokes down another sob.

 

“Erin.”

 

Erin doesn’t look at him, and doesn’t reply.

 

He knows-- He _knows,_ and it should’ve been fine. It shouldn’t have been anything unexpected, he’s spent his entire life knowing-- everyone ends up as another body in the streets. He’s spent his entire life with death being expected, being normal, being only a slight inconvenience or maybe a little sad, but--

 

_God--_

 

Right now, as he bites down on his lip so hard it bleeds to keep himself from breaking down, as his shaking hands try to press down harder and harder even though he _knows._ Somewhere along the way, somewhere in his years by Orion’s side, something changed without him noticing. Somewhere along the way, he forgot that death was the inevitable end for everyone, and somewhere along the way he started to care so deeply for Orion that the thought of him dying shakes him to his core. So now, even though he _knows--_

 

_Even though he knows--_

 

A cold and clammy hand grabs softly at his wrist, and finally Erin raises his eyes to Orion’s.

 

“Erin--”

 

“Don’t,” Erin pleads, “Please, Ou-sama-- _Orion._ Please, you can’t.”

 

Erin was fully sobbing now, his tears falling onto the hand still around his wrist. Orion shivers, cold from the loss of the warm blood now coating both Erin’s jacket and hands. As he opens his mouth to reply, his hazy eyes lock seriously with Erin’s, but his voice is gentle when he speaks.

 

“Erin, that’s enough.” Orion tugs lightly at his hand, urging him to remove it.

 

Erin’s entire body trembles as he shakes his head. “No, _no,_ Orion, if I stop then you’ll-- We just need someone to come, and--”

 

“No one’s coming, Erin. There’s no one else around. Please.”

 

Despite Erin’s best efforts, and as much as Erin tried not to think about it, it was clear Orion was quickly deteriorating; he continued to pale steadily, and his clammy skin was getting colder and colder.

 

Erin looked away from Orion’s eyes, desperately searching the area around them, but he was right. Aside from the stabbers dead body, there wasn’t anyone, and there wasn’t likely to be anyone any time soon.

 

His red eyes return to the grey ones he knows so well and his face twists in pain.

 

“I don’t-- Orion, I don’t want you to die.”

 

“I know. It wasn’t in my plans for today either,” Orion tries to joke with a small smile, hoping Erin might brighten even slightly hearing it from his usually stoic king.

 

When Erin only continues to sob, his hands maintaining pressure on the wound, Orion sighs.

 

“Erin, you know I love you, right?”

 

Somehow Erin’s tears manage to spill even faster and he sniffs, nodding his head.

 

“I kno-- I know. I love you too Orion. I love you.”

 

Erin knew he had to let go, that he was only delaying the inevitable, that he was only dragging out what couldn’t be an enjoyable experience for Orion.

 

It’s only because he knows Orion is suffering-- he can feel how cold and clammy Orion is to the touch, his body beginning to shiver harder and harder as he loses more blood, and he can see how tired Orion looks-- that he manages to get himself to lift his hands.

 

A rush of blood escapes, joining the pool he’s already kneeling in as the pressure is relieved. Erin clenches his bloody fists as hard as he can, digging his fingernails into his palms in an attempt to stop them from shaking so violently.

 

Orion was fading even faster now, but he reaches one hand out to grasp Erin’s, not caring that it was coated with his own blood. The other raises to Erin’s face and gently wipes a few tears before falling back down to his chest.

 

A few tears begin to gather in Orion’s eyes as he gives a weak smile to the red-haired man.

 

“Thank you for everything, Erin. Make sure you take care of yourself for me, okay?”

 

Erin nods, but Orion’s eyes are already closed, his hand limp in Erin’s grasp, and his chest no longer rising. His entire body shakes, loud heartbreaking sobs escaping him as Erin doubles over to rest his head against Orion’s quiet chest, clutching his cold hand desperately.

 

He’s known from the time he was a child that everyone ends up as another body in the streets, but for the first time in his life Erin finds himself disgusted with that fact.

**Author's Note:**

> i did edit this a bit so it shouldnt be Too big of a mess but i make no promises. i dont like how a lot of it came out but i dont feel like messing with it anymore so here it is.
> 
> i first wrote the last part with orion at like 6 am before sleeping and i cried so much.. i love to suffer


End file.
